Christmas songs take you back

Every year, rock and pop radio stations will surrender to holiday music.That's fine, although I've always thought that Christmas music and rock and roll have never really mixed.Don't get me wrong, I love a good Christmas song. As a child, I was introduced to classic artists like Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and Johnny Mathis through Christmas music.There are plenty of times during this month when I've put on an artist like Perry Como and gotten, if only for a few minutes, into the spirit.But I've always had a strange relationship with Christmas music. I can't help but wonder if, when Irving Berlin was finishing his masterpiece, "White Christmas," he had one thought:"Do I really want to use this melody on a song that only gets played four weeks a year?"For as much as I love some holiday music, I can be pretty strict about listening to it.Don't play it before Thanksgiving and never play it after Christmas day.There's nothing more out of place to me than when a holiday song comes on in June.But what's most interesting to me about Christmas music is that — while it seems out of place most of the year — most of the classic Christmas songs were recorded in early spring or summer.Crosby's versions of "White Christmas" — perhaps the gold standard for the holiday genre — sold 50 million records.When you hear the vocal, you imagine Bing, perhaps with a pipe, wistfully looking out his window at several inches of snow in December, like in the movie, "Holiday Inn."Except that that Crosby made two major recordings of the song in the 1940s: One in May of 1942 and one in March of 1947.My favorite Christmas tune is probably Nat King Cole's version of "The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)" written by Mel Torme and Robert Wells.Torme once said he wrote the song in the middle of a hot summer, in an attempt to think about colder things.But listening to Cole's vocal, the song always takes me back to being 9-years-old and watching the snow come down a few days before Christmas.Cole, of course, first recorded the song in June of 1946.I suppose it's a credit to the artists and musicians that they could deliver on a Christmas song that is recorded out of season.Can you believe Elvis Presley recorded "Blue Christmas" in September?But I really do appreciate — and often savor — the short period when Christmas music is on.Mostly, for me, listening to it reminds me of my childhood, at a time when I wasn't so cynical, when I thought the bells I heard on Christmas Eve could be Santa Claus.I think that happened last year, actually.But I hope you enjoy the Christmas music, and the holidays. It's a time to reflect, and enjoy time with loved ones.And a time to play that old Bing Crosby song.The recording is about 80, but the tune never gets old at this time of year. Zach Baker is the sports editor for The Courier and Review Times.